Who Tells Your Story
by Daryls Cherokee Rose
Summary: When Lynn Hargrove won the lottery she knew her life would change. She just wasn't expecting those changes to come in the form of a chosen family that consists of bikers. S4 fix-it fic. It may get shippy in later chapters.


It was late, well after normal business hours, and Lynn was sure she'd turned off the neon 'open' sign that flashed in the window next to the door; so when the bell above the door jingled, softly, Lynn was more than half tempted to tell the intruder to kindly fuck off without even looking up. Something in her gut stopped her though. She was glad of that something when she looked up and saw Juice standing, not far from the door he'd just come in, looking lost, scared, and so alone. Lynn took a second to close the lap top she'd been working on, stood, and gestured Juice toward the counter.

'What's going on Juice? Should I be expecting a horde of zombies to come crashing through the door demanding brains? You look like the world is ending.'

'It might as well be. Jesus, they're gonna kill me. No, they're gonna kick me out. Fuck. What the hell am I gonna do?' Lynn could tell Juice was spiraling and one of two things was going to happen. He was either going to hurt himself or get someone else hurt.

'Juice, I need you to take a couple deep breaths, relax just a little, and tell me what the hell is going on. That's the only way I'm going to be able to help you.' Lynn hid a chuckle when Juice jumped up and down a couple times and shook his arms and hands in an effort to dispel some of his pent up energy, or anxiety, she wasn't sure. She deftly moved behind the counter and started water heating for tea; the last thing Juice needed in his state was coffee.

'You're a friend of the club, you know the shit we're into now, right?' Juice asked and barreled on without waiting for an answer. Lynn had been a friend of the club since she'd opened her shop in town several years ago and treated the guys with respect not disdain. 'Roosevelt pulled me in on bogus charges and told me I have to rat out the club or he's gonna tell them my dad's black.' Lynn wasn't sure how the fact that Juice's dad was black fit into anything and her look must have said as much because Juice continued. 'The club has a rule, no black members. If they find out I'm half black they'll kick me out. I got nothing without that club, Lynn. They might as well just kill me. I don't know what to do.'

'First off; that's a bullshit rule and I can almost guarantee they'll set it aside for you. You are and always have been a valuable member. Secondly; calm down and try to remember for me how much Roosevelt knew and how much you might have inadvertently given away; we need to consider damage control.' Lynn offered her suggestions softly, but firmly, knowing she needed to pull Juice out of his head and ground him in the here-and-now. As he thought over her words Lynn could see Juice relaxing by degrees; and by the time she set his tea in front of him Lynn could tell he was starting to see sense.

Juice rolled his neck back and forth a few times, cracked his knuckles on his thumbs, and took a few deep breaths. 'Roosevelt doesn't know dick. He's got a few half-assed ideas but they don't amount to anything without proof. I don't think I gave anything away but I know I was sweating bullets by the time I left. His suspicions are a little closer to being confirmed.'

'Ok, so we get in front of this. You want me to call Jax, have him come here; neutral ground, I can mediate. We'll get you through this, Juice, don't worry.' Lynn offered at a loss for anything else, but knowing she needed to do something.

'No, call Chibs, he was my sponsor, he'll know how to work it with Jax to minimize the damage. Thank you, Lynn. You're literally a life saver.' Juice moved around the counter when Lynn invited him, grabbed a cupcake out of the case, and made his way to the basement stockroom. Lynn figured he'd either pace or count sugar packets. She made her call.

Half an hour later, Lynn had finished her bookkeeping; and was in the process of rearranging the tables when the bell over the door jingled again. 'Lass what's so important you pulled me away from a very tempting offer at the clubhouse?'

'No offence but your club has some antiquated rules that y'all really should look into changing. Apparently Roosevelt pulled Juice in the other day.'

'Yeah, I was with him at his shop when they picked him up. But what's one thing have to do with the other, lass?' Chibs asked intrigued.

'I've been thinking this over since Juice showed up a little bit ago. Someone's pulling strings over Roosevelt's head. Getting him to play the damn race card on Juice, ask him about his father's complexion, to get something to use on you guys.' Lynn offers moving back behind the counter to make yet another cup of tea.

'Jesus Christ. As if we don't have enough shite piling up. They're trying to reopen RICO. I gotta tell Jackie. Is Juice still here?' Chibs asks knowing the younger man will be safest keeping his head down.

'Yeah he's down in the basement. I'm figuring he's probably got my stockroom looking better than it has since I set it up.' Lynn tries to laugh but the joke falls flat. 'I'll make sure he stays put. But, Chibs, he's spiraling hard. He needs reassurance that he's not gonna lose his place in the club.'

'Alright, lass, I'll talk to him then I'll have to take it to Jackie. So long as he hasn't done anything stupid he's good. Mind, he'll go nowhere without a shadow for a while; but he'll be fine.' Chibs stated flatly taking the proffered tea cup and making his way down to the basement.

Lynn stood, unabashedly, at the top of the steps listening to the little bits of conversation she could make out. Hell with everything that basement had seen in the last few years, between guns and people hiding from the law Lynn figured two grown-ass men having a conversation was the tamest thing happening down there. Her suspicions, about someone pulling Roosevelt's strings, were confirmed; she was also made aware of the fact that she was now housing uncut cocaine, a fact she would have liked to know about before it happened. But she guessed there was a level of plausible deniability so she couldn't be too upset.

When the bell over the door jangled a third time and Lynn looked around the door to see Jax, she figured she was in for a long night. She motioned him behind the counter and held the door open so he could descend the stairs. Lynn made sure only a couple strategic lights were on, the door was locked, and the blinds lowered before she made her way back to the kitchen to make sure all her prep work was done for the morning. Sometime later Lynn heard the guys clomping up the stairs, three sets of boots, she was glad to note, so she poked her head out of the kitchen to wish them a good night.

'Night guys. Jax have Gemma call me first thing in the morning if the weekend order is gonna be different.' Lynn hears what she assumes is an affirmative grunt from the blond and seeing Chibs wave his keys at her she makes her way back to the kitchen, knowing the other man will lock up. She's not surprised to see Juice sitting on her prep area. 'Get your ass off my clean counter. If you're bored you can always wash dishes. Otherwise the spare room is made up, upstairs.'

To his credit Juice did help with some dishes, talking the whole time, shifting through a whole range of subjects. Lynn mostly let him ramble, knowing he still had some nervous energy/anxiety to work off. She realized she'd missed something when the silence stretched a little longer than it should have. 'I'm sorry, Juice. What had you said?'

'Just that I got all the dishes done, and was gonna head up; unless you want me to hang out down here.'

'Nah, I'm done. I was just fucking around with a recipe I'd read online for a green tea cupcake with a lavender infused frosting. I was thinking of trying it out for the Taste of Charming thing next month, but I don't know if the sheltered residents of our little hamlet will truly appreciate the combination.' Lynn laughed at the expression that crossed Juice's face. Kind of a mix of curiosity and disgust. 'What? It may sound a little 'out there' but I bet you anything it tastes amazing.' She chuckled again at Juice's continued skepticism. 'Shut your face and get outta my kitchen. The shit I do for you boys and I get no respect.'

'We love you, Lynn, you gotta know that. Just some of the shit you come up with… Why you can't just stick to normal cupcakes with chocolate frosting; and those organic whole grain muffins' Juice shakes his head as if she's the crazy one 'I don't know how you stay in business.'

'You better not be shit-talking my fan-damn-tastic muffins. Admit it, you'd be lost without me.' Lynn closes her laptop, covers the bowl with the frosting she just made, and moves around the kitchen turning off lights. Once they get upstairs, to the 'glamor loft' as Lynn calls it (it's a 2 bedroom apartment that she originally intended to rent out, but it's come in handy a time or 3 when the Sons have needed to stash someone), they split; Juice to the kitchen to get some water and Lynn to the larger of the 2 bedrooms.

She's woken, too few hours later, by someone mumbling. Figuring it's just Juice, on one of his tangents Lynn feels around on the floor for a shoe to throw at the wall. Hoping that Juice will get the hint and either come in and talk to her, or go the hell to bed. Her workout shoe hit the wall with a satisfying thud and the mumbling instantly stopped. There's a furtive knock on her cracked-open bedroom door, then Juice is ducking his head around it.

'Did I wake you? I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention.' Juice offers, looking chagrinned; and Lynn can't stay mad at that face.

'Come on in, Juice. I think I've got some nail polish that'll compliment your angst perfectly, if you really want the whole sleep-over experience.' Lynn pats the bed beside her and turns on her side to face Juice. 'I can't promise I won't fall asleep on you, but if you really feel like you need to talk this all out I am here.'

'I – I don't do well on my own. I have a lot of shit in my head and if I'm left to my own devices it goes real dark, real quick. Like, I have a house just outside the city-proper, but I don't know why. Like, I'm never there. It's too empty. As long as I'm around other people I'm good, but the longer I'm alone the louder the shit in my head gets.' Juice stops talking then, and lays down leaving a decent amount of space between them.

Lynn stretches her arm across the empty space and takes Juice's hand. A show of support, and solidarity. 'Do you remember the first time you guys came into the shop?' Juice looks at her surprised at the sudden topic shift.

'Yeah. Gemma had been in the day before and gotten some muffins or something for the office and Bobby was all offended that she didn't want his. But, seriously, the week before he'd accidentally given her some laced muffins and a couple customers ate them. So anyways. Bobby was all prepared to come down here and give you a piece of his mind but we walked in the door and you were going off on some guy who was giving a breastfeeding mother a hard time. Like I don't think you even heard the bell over the door you were all 'you need to call your mother and apologise for being a complete shitheel. No, better yet, give me your phone, I'll call her and tell her what kind of asshole you're being then she can apologise to this woman who's only trying to feed her child, for raising a garlic-infused douche-cap for a son.' Then you turned to us and were just like 'If you enjoyed the show please tip your waitress.' Then you proceeded to walk into the kitchen still ranting about jackass dill-hole pieces-of-shit minding their own business.' Bobby looked at us and said 'Jesus, I think she needs one of my muffins.'

'That was a banner day all around. But no, I don't consider that the first time. 'Cause like you said, I didn't even realise who y'all were then. No I mean the next time. It was mid-afternoon and completely dead, I should have closed for a few hours but it wouldn't have been worth my time to close and drive all the way home only to turn around a couple hours later and reopen. So I was puttering around and y'all came clomping in like a damn herd of rhinos. I have to admit I was a little scared at first.'

Juice laughed at that declaration. 'If you were scared it didn't show. You put up one hell of a front. You measured us up, focused on Jax and were all like 'if you expect me to kick up a protection vig you're gonna be waiting a while. I don't need protection, and I do not suffer fools lightly.' Jax was suitably impressed by your gumption. Why the trip down memory lane, Lynn?'

'Mostly because it got you to laugh. You need to lighten up, doll. Everything will work out like it should. As a wise woman once said: faith manages.' Lynn leaned over and smacked a wet kiss on the side of Juice's head, 'now, go the hell to sleep. I gotta be up in a few hours to open the shop.' She smiled gently when Juice offered one of his patented 'dopey puppy' grins and snuggled into his pillow.

When her alarm finally did go off Lynn was happy to see Juice snoring and drooling into his pillow. She made her way through her morning routine as quietly as she could, jotting a quick note on a post-it which she stuck to Juice's forehead. Making her way into the bakery Lynn wasn't really surprised to see Chibs slouched in a booth drinking a cup of coffee. 'What's the damage, Chibs, 'cause Juice is a damn nervous wreck?'

'It's all good, Lynn. Jax is gonna have a sit-down with Roosevelt today, explain how things'll go from here on out. Juice has nothing to worry about. He just needs to keep his head down for the next couple weeks. You'll be happy to know that we've done away with some of our more 'antiquated practices' so the lad has nothing to worry about on that front.'

'By keep his head down you mean hang out here being a general nuisance, yeah? I guess I can find some scut work for him.' Lynn heaved an aggrieved sigh, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. 'The shit I let you boys talk me into. You look beat, old man. Head upstairs and get some sleep. You can't expect to keep the citizens of our fine town safe if you crash your bike halfway down Main Street.'

Chibs drained his coffee cup, flipped Lynn the bird, then stood and stretched. 'We're gonna make out the other side of all this shite, Lynn. We just need a minute to figure out how.' He offered a half-hearted smile and made his way upstairs.


End file.
